Democrats' risk on immigration

I knew I didn't like something about the sound of this when I read it on TPM three days ago, when the Democrats decided to chuck energy and push ahead on immigration:

"Either we do it for political show or we get a bill done. Either way we win," the staffer said. "If Republicans block us they will forever cement themselves as rural, white angry party, and that's fine either way. Hispanics will see on Telemundo and Univision the angry white people in the Republican Party blocking the American dream. Who wins? Democrats do."

I'd like to buy this. But I don't, really.

Democrats should try to do something about this Arizona situation. It's an abomination. But...what? National immigration legislation will not pass. Period. There is NO WAY the GOP is going to give the Democrats a win like that a few months before an election they feel confident about.

So we're left with the above staffer's blocking scenario. Well, is that fine either way? I'm not so sure. The fact is that conservatives have the majority on their side on this one. Uncomfortable but real fact: A majority of Americans supports the new Arizona bill. From Politics Daily:

Americans who have heard about Arizona's tough new law to crack down on illegal immigrants favor the measure by 51 percent to 39 percent, according to a Gallup poll conducted April 27-28.

So you'll have Democrats in Congress pushing an unpopular reform - i.e., to the extent that it is posited as a corrective to the Arizona situation - that is sure to fail. How does that constitute success?

The only answer is that it will gin up the Latino vote, sure. I'm sorry to say it, but the right will win this spin war easily, without even trying. The Democrats are just pandering. Harry Reid is just trying to save his own tuchus and rile up the Latinos while unemployment is still high. Fiddling while Rome burns. As usual, greasing the palms of a constituency group and forgetting about out of work Americans. The stuff writes itself.

And besides, it will gin up tea party votes too.

I think it's a possible recipe for disaster. The focus should be jobs jobs jobs jobs jobs, period. Make Republicans oppose measures that could help the jobs picture. That is all they should be doing this year. Yes, that means sacrificing some things. But they're not in a position to pass those things. They don't have the votes.

Obama needs to step in and say this to Reid and Pelosi. Did they learn nothing from passing healthcare - that, historic as it is, it was and remains unpopular, and it left lots of Americans (not wingers, but decent middle-of-the-road people) wondering why they were spending all their time on that while unemployment was creeping above 10%? Sheesh.